Bigmouthmedia has launched a cross-industry campaign to promote a career in search and digital marketing to university graduates.

The move follows the publication of survey results revealing that the majority of Scotland’s recent graduates feel that higher education should do more to connect students to opportunities in emerging industries. The research, conducted this year by Bigmouthmedia, also reveals students’ belief that universities are failing to adequately prepare leavers for life in the real world.

Despite the fact that search marketing has grown to become a £1.2bn a year business in the last decade, until now none of the UK’s careers advisory bodies have listed search engine optimisation or digital marketing amongst the options available to graduates.

However, following consultations with the Edinburgh headquartered agency, Careers Scotland have now updated their records to reflect the industry’s growing significance.

While continuing to work with the relevant sector Skills Councils in Scotland to ensure that information is available to entry-level job seekers, bigmouthmedia now plans to carry the campaign to the rest of the UK and Europe.

“Every year companies like Bigmouthmedia hire a raft of recent graduates, yet our experience attending university careers fairs tells us that many new entrants to the workforce are simply unaware of the opportunities available in the sector,” said Lyndsay Menzies, MD of Bigmouthmedia UK.

“With a wide range of roles on offer the search marketing sector can offer a career path to both science graduates with Maths, Statistics or IT related degrees and social sciences students with creative, language and communications skills. We believe that new career paths like this is have a vital role to play in the economy, and will continue campaigning to ensure that the relevant advisory bodies are kept up to date.”